LAHORE: The ordeal of a widow has finally come to an end after Prime Minister Imran Khan took serious notice of her complaint when she told him [by live telephonic call] that a SSP-ranked police officer’s brother had not been paying her outstanding rent amount to the tune of Rs500,000.

Ayesha Mazhar narrated to the premier her two-year-long ordeal at the hands of police officer Zeshan Asghar [former Lahore SSP Investigation now posted in Balochistan] and his brother Imran Asghar.

She said her mother [also a widow] had rented her house to Imran Asghar in 2019 at DHA Rahbar housing society in Lahore.

Ayesha’s call which went viral on social media raised questions about the criminal justice system, and the parliamentarians who allegedly deprived her of fundamental rights when she told the PM that she has been visiting all fora but failed to get relief because Imran Asghar was ‘brother of a police officer’.

She said Imran first illegally occupied her house and then refused payment of rent. She said her mother, who was pursuing the case, developed cancer and she (Ayesha) took up this challenge and used to travel from Quetta to Lahore to seek help from local politicians and respective police officers but to no avail.

She further told the PM that her matter had surfaced for the first time during the tenure of DIG Umar Sheikh when he was serving as Lahore CCPO. The woman said Mr Sheikh had got her house vacated from Imran Asghar in December last year. The then CCPO had also pressed Imran Asghar to pay her pending dues. In the meantime, Umar Sheikh was transferred.

Zeshan Asghar was serving as Lahore SSP (Investigation) at that time when her house was illegally occupied, rendering her family homeless for two years or so. The issue had then got attention of the mainstream media. She told the premier that she later approached the newly appointed CCPO who made efforts but Imran Asghar moved the court, seeking a stay order against payment of dues.

During the live telephonic call, the woman suggested to Imran Khan to take up the matter with the chief justice of Pakistan as to why courts were granting ‘unnecessary’ stay orders in such cases.

Following the [painful] assertion of the woman, the PM Secretariat contacted the Punjab IG and referred the case to him.

“Due to the intervention of the IGP, the outstanding amount of Rs472,000 has been paid by the former tenant to the aggrieved lady Ayesha Mazhar,” read a tweet of the Punjab police department here on Monday.

It stated that the civil case filed by Imran Asghar against Ayesha has also been withdrawn by him.

“The matter is completely solved,” the Punjab police tweet said. CCPO Ghulam Mahmood Dogar also confirmed to the media that the matter stood resolved.

Sources said former CCPO Umer Sheikh had got Zeeshan Asghar transferred from Lahore following multiple complaints of abuse of power by the official.

There is no official word if Zeeshan would be proceeded against for supporting his brother.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2021